Print double-sided documents with this Bash script
Use Bash to print 2-sided documents on a printer that can only print on one side.
Portable programming practices
Sometimes it’s easier to define your API to hide the platform-specific code
Writing portable C programs
Jim shares this follow-up to an earlier article about programming across platforms.
Calculate letter frequency in gawk
Write a gawk script to determine the most (and least) common letters in a set of words.
Programming across platforms
Using these C compiler preprocessor directives to detect the operating system can make it easier to support multiple platforms at once.
The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, Tenet 11 — Store data in open formats
Image by Opensource.com: CC-by-SA 4.0 Author’s note: This article is excerpted in part from chapter 13 of my book, The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, with...
Terminal size and ncurses
When programs like vi first came along, terminals had a predefined size: usually 80 columns and 24 lines (actually 25 lines, but the last line...
Searching text files from the command line
The find command is a powerful and flexible tool to locate files under a path.
Random numbers from the Linux kernel
Let the kernel generate random numbers for you using ‘getrandom.’
A gentle introduction to ncurses
You can create your own programs that use a text user interface to control the screen.
Check spelling at the command line
Check spelling at the command line like old-school Unix with this cool script.
Balancing Performance, Compliance, and Cost with Linux and Open-Source Solutions
My recent task involved assisting a healthcare professional in upgrading their computer system. The goal was to provide a more robust solution that offers redundant...
How to use the base64 command on Linux
The base64 command converts binary data to ASCII data so that it can be transmitted as text. It's a common method of encoding used to...
5 things I love about Xfce Terminal
I use these Xfce Terminal features all the time to work at the command line.
How to use SSH
You may have heard that Linux and Unix computers give you the ability to control a computer other than the one you're sitting at. That's...
How to use the basename command
The basename command is a GNU core utility for UNIX and UNIX-like systems, and is designed to remove the file suffix and leading directories from a filename. It’s a reasonable alternative to at least some uses of the cut command. You’re not likely to use it alone, but it’s an interesting tool to have available to you when constructing a complex command.